Thursday, December 08, 2011

Phytohaemagglutinin, Beans and your Slow Cooker

Phytohaemagglutinin (Kidney Bean Lectin)is found in many types of beans but Kidney beans have the greatest concentration. The consumption of raw or undercooked beans causes the syndrome and can be hard to diagnose because the symptoms are the same as other types of food poisoning. So you may be wondering what does this have to do with crock pots and slow cookers? Apparently the cooking of beans in a crock-pot will not generate a high enough temperature to eliminate the toxin.

The good news is with proper cooking techniques you will eliminate this toxin. The most important step to take is to hard boil the beans for at least ten minutes. When I cook beans I soak either using the long soak for the short soak method of getting the beans to a boil and then letting them sit and soak a couple of hours. I then drain the beans. Draining the beans reduces the other affect beans tend to cause. I then put the beans back in a pot with fresh water and bring the beans to a boil. I then boil for at least 10 minutes but usually longer and depending on what is going on I will pour the cooking beans in a slow cooker to complete the cooking. I usually like to cook the beans all the way with only water because salt and other ingredients can make beans hard.

Enjoy your chili and other bean recipes which are still a good source of protein but remember to cook them properly.